Mount Holyoke College vs Bowdoin College

Mount Holyoke College and Bowdoin College, both esteemed liberal arts institutions, offer distinct educational experiences. Mount Holyoke, a women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, boasts a tight-knit community and a focus on empowering women leaders. Bowdoin, a coeducational college in Brunswick, Maine, emphasizes experiential learning and civic engagement. With acceptance rates of 29% and 11%, respectively, these colleges attract academically accomplished students. Mount Holyoke's popular majors include social sciences, biological and biomedical sciences, and English language and literature, while Bowdoin's strengths lie in economics, government and legal studies, and English. Explore the detailed comparison table to discover more about these colleges' student demographics, graduation rates, and other key factors, and make an informed decision that aligns with your academic aspirations and personal preferences.

	Bowdoin College	Mount Holyoke College
Overview
Location	Brunswick, Maine	South Hadley, Massachusetts
Campus setting	Town: Fringe	Suburb: Large
College type	4 year	4 year
Control/business model	Private (Non Profit)	Private (Non Profit)
Calendar system	Semester	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate	Undergraduate and Graduate
Students retention rate	97.0%	91.0%
Common app member	Yes	Yes
Religious affiliation

Admission
Acceptance rate	8.8%	52.3%
Application fees	$65	Undergraduate: $60 Graduate: $50
SAT range	N/A	1300 - 1510
ACT range	N/A	31 - 35
Students submitting SAT score		24.0%
Students submitting ACT score		11.0%
Total number of applicants	9,325	3,971
Total number of admissions given out	822	2,077
Admitted students who chose to enroll	517	608
Yield rate	62.9%	29.3%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	N/A	N/A
High school GPA	Not required	Not required
Recommendation letters	Required	Required
High school transcript	Not required	Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	Required	Required

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	$76,310	$73,438
Average net price	$26,727	$29,218
Tuition	$57,776	$56,300
Room & board	Room/dormitory: $7,630 Meal plan: $8,268	Room/dormitory: $8,320 Meal plan: $8,260
Available payment plans	Tuition payment plan	Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	54.0% Average amount $45,153	100.0% Average amount $30,351
Students receiving federal student loan	11.0% Average amount $4,767	42.0% Average amount $4,906
Students taking out private loans	1.0% Average amount $20,700	7.0% Average amount $4,982

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	1,951 Men 49.4% Women 50.6%	2,220 Men 0.1% Women 99.9%
Graduate students	N/A	122 Men 13.1% Women 86.9%
Racial/ethnic diversity	Low	Low
Out-of-state students	91.5%	N/A
International students	7.1%	23.1%
Campus local/setting	Town: Fringe	Suburb: Large
Dormitory capacity	1,913	2,171
First year students are required to live on campus?	Yes	No
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	New York California Maine Connecticut New Jersey	Mississippi New York California Connecticut Florida

Academics
Popular study areas	Social Sciences Ethnic Studies Biological and Biomedical Sciences Natural Resources and Conservation Mathematics and Statistics	Social Sciences Education Foreign Languages and Literatures Biological and Biomedical Sciences Visual & Performing Arts
Students to faculty ratio	9:1	10:1
Institutional accreditation	New England Commission on Higher Education	New England Commission on Higher Education

Outcome
Graduation rate	93.8%	85.0%
Dropout rate	2.2%	2.9%
Transferred out	4.0%	11.9%
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Computer Science (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $104,192 Year 3: $122,292 Mathematics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $67,101 Year 3: $83,803 Economics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $61,127 Year 2: $71,015 Year 3: $77,719 Political Science and Government (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $51,934 Year 2: $50,231 Year 3: $60,473 Natural Resources Conservation and Research (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $25,194 Year 3: N/A Area Studies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $46,244 Year 2: $42,123 Year 3: N/A Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $32,925 Year 3: N/A English Language and Literature, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $22,771 Year 3: N/A Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $44,658 Year 2: $39,009 Year 3: N/A Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $39,454 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A	International Relations and National Security Studies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $39,377 Year 2: $45,696 Year 3: $46,206 Education, Other (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $46,986 Year 2: $42,682 Year 3: $46,152 Political Science and Government (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $42,150 Year 2: $35,060 Year 3: $44,038 Anthropology (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $32,925 Year 3: $37,403 Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $30,356 Year 2: $36,852 Year 3: $35,497 Fine and Studio Arts (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $26,353 Year 3: $34,113 Psychology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $31,168 Year 2: $30,409 Year 3: $33,868 English Language and Literature, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $28,960 Year 3: $30,295 History (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $24,035 Year 3: $30,137 Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $28,160 Year 2: $28,598 Year 3: $29,034

Compare Similar Colleges

The list of suggested college comparisons provided below is generated automatically by our system, utilizing statistics gathered from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and various online sources. If you don't find the colleges you wish to compare, please visit our comparison page. There, you can search for the specific colleges and initiate your comparison.

Bowdoin College

Claremont McKenna College